Enterprise takes flight toward space tourism

Enterprise was released from its mothership, dubbed Eve, at an altitude of 45,000ft (13,700m) and flown back to Mojave Air and Space Port by pilot Pete Siebold and co-pilot Mike Alsbury.

According to Virgin Galactic, the two main goals of the flight were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from the mothership and for the pilots to free fly and glide back and land.

Other flight objectives that were completed successfully include verification that all systems worked prior and following the release of Enterprise; initial evaluation of handling and stall characteristics; and verification of performance by evaluating the lift-to-drag ratio of the spaceship during glide flight.

‘The VSS Enterprise was a real joy to fly, especially when one considers the fact that the vehicle has been designed not only to be a Mach 3.5 spaceship capable of going into space but also one of the world’s highest-altitude gliders,’ said Siebold.